1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to a kitchen utensil used for skimming fat or other floating debris from soup stock. Specifically, it pertains to a class of cookware commonly known as fat skimming ladle.
2. Description of Prior Art
Because of diet and health concerns, consumers nowadays tend to be adamant about reducing the fat content in their daily food intake. In general household cooking, the preparation of soup stock from fresh meat tend to retain all its fat content which would float to the top forming an oily layer. This fat should therefore be removed thoroughly and be discarded.
If no special gadget is available, the user would be forced to use a soup ladle to skim off the fat. This is unsatisfactory because proper skimming would take skillful manipulation of the ladle, and would need to be carried out many times throughout the cooking. Additionally, liquid stock would also be collected by the ladle although the user is only trying to skim off the fat. So in the process of getting rid of the fat, a little stock would also get discarded. Do it over many times during cooking to eliminate all the fat, then this little waste each time would become a major problem.
(For discussions hereinafter, xe2x80x9cstockxe2x80x9d refers to the liquefied fat and liquid mixture while xe2x80x9cbrothxe2x80x9d refers to the cooked liquid excluding fat.) In view of this, some users choose to cool off the stock in the refrigerator, or by using ice cubes so fat can solidify for removal. Needless to say, such are very unsatisfactory and time-consuming methods.
There is a utensil called a gravy skimmer in the shape of an uncovered teapot having a spout that originates from the bottom of the beaker shaped container. A user may pour accumulated drippings (a mixture of fat and juice from meat) into the gravy skimmer. Then the juice from the meat will be poured out through the spout to be made into gravy leaving the lighter fat within the gravy skimmer to be disposed of. The gravy skimmer is suitable for its intended purpose of skimming fat off of drippings which is of only a small amount. For soup stock cooking, the volume of liquid involved would be much too much to be properly handled by a gravy skimmer.
It has been recognized early on that fat skimming of a liquid stock can most conveniently be done by using a ladle type of utensil. The idea is that a skimming ladle can used to quickly and conveniently collect only the fat for discarding. And if the ladle can also be used as a common soup ladle thus having dual purposes for the same device, then there would obviously be much more added convenience.
Many inventors in the past had made attempts at inventing a functional fat skimming ladle. Existing patents of fat skimming ladles on file at the USPTO include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,185 presents a complicated design having an additional vessel internal to the ladle;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,965 Levie proposes a ladle construction similar to the skimmer described, having a removable gate separating the spout from the bowl section of the ladle;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,294 Roberts presents a ladle having very similar construction to that of the Levie patent above;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,900 Jamentz presents a ladle having ports for collection of fat;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,177 Keene presents a ladle having fat collection xe2x80x9cdomesxe2x80x9d within the ladel;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,860 Kuhlman presents a ladle having a trigger release on the handle for fat collection;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,349 Hansen presents a ladle having a inlet tongue and outlet holes on opposite sides;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,775 Tong et al presents a ladle having a movable inner structure for liquid guide;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,737 Bentzen presents a ladle having a cone shaped structure for collecting fat;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,109 Lam presents a ladle having a double vessel construction.
U.S. Pat. No. (584,668 Cooke presents a general-use ladle designed for pouring from the rear endxe2x80x94included here in prior art citation because of its relevance to rear-pouring design ladles.)
By and large the above designs are much too complicated for the intended simple purpose of selectively collecting fat. And by and large they don""t even work any better than using a common soup ladle. The near total failure of this type of gadget is exemplified by the fact that no fat skimming ladle is offered by any of the major national chain stores despite its apparent great usefulness.
A careful search on the Internet has revealed only one company Profi-Plus that has produced a fat skimming ladle that has met any degree of commercial success. An early version of their fat skimming ladle is of a design that has holes punched out from the periphery of a common soup ladle. This version of the gadget functions no better than a common soup ladle and has since been abandoned. Their latest fat skimming ladle has a construction that uses the same bottom draining principle similar to the gravy skimmer previously described to drain off the liquid stock leaving fat behind. In other words, the Profi-Plus unit is essentially a gravy skimmer made in the shape of a container bowl having a long handle. The outlet spout is located to one side of the bowl occupying part of the brim.
As in the gravy skimmer, this design would work in selectively draining out the liquid back into the soup stock leaving fat behind for disposal. However, this kind of fat skimming ladle is unnecessarily difficult to use in that having the outlet spout located at the brim of the bowl would mean the user would always have to avoid having the soup stock (mixture of liquid fat and broth) flowing into the container bowl by way of the spout. So in order to avoid the spout, the unit is designed have a horizontal opening in the shape of a post box opening that accepts the flow of soup stock mixture. This opening is located at a level slightly below the brim of the bowl. Unfortunately, to help avoid the spout, the design is in a way forcing the user to direct soup stock flow to enter the bowl only through this opening. Such requirements of avoiding the spout and directing flow only through the opening unnecessarily complicates the fat skimming process. In addition to this inconvenience, having the spout prominently out in front and to a side of the ladle, along with the prominent xe2x80x9cpost boxxe2x80x9d opening would only serve to discourage users from using this ladle as a common soup ladle effectively eliminating one of the greatest advantages that a dual-purpose fat skimming ladle would otherwise offer.
The present invention uses the same bottom-feeding principal as common gravy skimmers. But by having the outlet spout located behind the proximal end of the handle, all the shortcomings of the Profi-Plus ladle is eliminated. This design allows soup stock flow over any part of the brim into the container bowl. So ladle handling can be naturally carried out with no purposeful manipulation required. In addition, the ladle with this design would also retain the simple and elegant look and easy function of a common soup ladle making this a true dual-purpose fat skimming ladle.
The present invention has achieved the ultimate simplicity in design with excellent functionality that enables it to function as an efficient, easy to use fat skimmer. It also has the same simple and elegant look of a common soup ladle, and can be conveniently used as one.
It is a first objective of this invention to provide a utensil that provides for an easy and thorough removal of fat and other floating debris on the surface of soup stock while it is still being cooked.
It is a second objective of this invention to provide a utensil that can accomplish the above with little waste;
It is a third objective of this invention to provide a utensil that has the dual function of being able to be used as a common soup ladle with essentially the same elegant look and the same easy functions;
Additional advantages from a manufacturer""s standpoint include: simple one-piece construction; a highly innovative product that is far superior to other competitive products on the market in every aspect and is extremely simple and economical to produce.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprise the device possessing the features, properties, and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.
In accordance with the present invention a kitchen fat-skimming ladle comprise of a handle, a container bowl, a conduit that drains from an inlet located at the interior bottom of the container to an outlet located behind the handle at its proximal end. This utensil uses the effective bottom draining principle of a common gravy skimmer and returns liquid stock to the pot while leaving fat behind for disposal. This ladle avails the entire brim of the ladle bowl to be used for scooping out the soup stock mixture enabling very natural handling. The liquid stock can be drained back into the pot easily by tipping the ladle backwards leaving fat behind. The conduit merges with the retainer bowl and handle, and is completely hidden from view. This dual-purpose ladle has the same simple elegant look and easy functioning of a common soup ladle.